I smell gas

simon84 · Post by **simon84** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:37 pm

Just went for a spin in my 84 tercel and I smell gas. Drove about 10 km, 50 to 70 kmh. Stopped at my destination and nosed around the gas tank, nothing, popped the hood and nothing obvious either. Some oil around the fuel pump but there's oil leaking from many parts of my engine already so I'm thinking that's nothing unusual. Fuel lines check out, fuel filter and that black cannister thing seem ok. Checked the radiator overflow, no gas smell there (I'm thinking a bad head gasket could've been the problem). Looked down the carb and whattaya know, It smelled kida like gas but I'm thinking that is totally normal. When I run it there's nothing spewing anywhere under the hood. I do notice that when I rev it and look down the carb there is a stream of gas going into one of the barrels and not the other. Is that normal? It's also a little blacker on that side. Oh yeah, and it's got 3/4 of a tank which is a bit fuller than usual maybe but not that rare.
Nothing obvious around the filler hose.
Any thoughts?
I think I'll just keep an eye on it and hope it goes away.

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 9:28 pm

get some gas leak detector and it will reveal your problem with the help of a UV light

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:00 am

Do you live in the rust belt? My guess is a rusty tank. The easy fix is not filling it up all the way.

takza · Post by **takza** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 7:40 am

Could be the charcoal canister isn't getting purged...check the valve that purges it? Check the large (3/8"?) hoses going to the can....mine was melted thru....had a gas smell for sure.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:46 am

I'd recommend starting off by replacing the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Neither is expensive from NAPA. I had oil sprayed back onto the firewall from the fuel pump and was smelling gas on and off. Replaced the fuel pump and it went away. Smell for gas in your oil. If the pump is screwy, it MIGHT be leaking gas into the oil system. I got both pumps I've bought and both filters I've got for $27/pump and $3.50/filter.
Could be otherwise though. All the same, I'd change the fuel pump.
If you do change the fuel pump, clean the oil off the firewall.

grzydj · Post by **grzydj** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 1:14 pm

takza wrote: Could be the charcoal canister isn't getting purged...check the valve that purges it? Check the large (3/8"?) hoses going to the can....mine was melted thru....had a gas smell for sure.

I had that problem with mine. I replaced the line and purged the canister and everything was back to normal. A few months later my tank started to leak.

xirdneh · Post by **xirdneh** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:52 pm

simon84 wrote: Just went for a spin in my 84 tercel and I smell gas.

i've had the fuel pump leak sporadically. (it was probably about to go out)
Also had the metal fuel line leak at the top forward end of the carburator
the large bolt that holds the line to the carb was slightly loose.